Better Late Than Never?

Did Trump finally figure out Putin's game?

US president Trump has recently admitted that he's being played by Vladimir Putin. “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin ... He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,” Trump said during an interview last week. Is the stalling game up for Putin? Let's talk about it.

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Even before Trump got elected, it was my prediction that negotiations would reach this point. Trump was going to try to negotiate as if Putin wants to stop the war, and he'll realize he got everything backwards. Over the last two weeks, it seemed like we were either at or nearing that point. So what now? The ball was in Trump's court, but Putin might also try to adjust his game.

Trump is also in a bit of a dilemma with his base though. They want "no war" and are pretty entrenched in Russian propaganda. For a good outcome to come out of this war, the US and/or Europe are going to have to put their foot down. So how do I define a good outcome in this war? Stopping the war with both the Russian and Ukrainian governments still intact, with a huge demilitarized zone between them.